AS CAL silently slips out of the rankings, we give you our six Rs of the weekend.

1 RAVE

In the kind of thievery that warms the heart, Illinois gave San Jose State a handout, then the Spartans picked the Illini's pocket to boot. Illinois paid San Jose State $375,000 to show up in Champaign, Ill., and as a thank-you, the Spartans beat last year's Big Ten champions 38-35 on Saturday.

The Spartans yielded more than 600 yards of offense. And they won. They have just 61 scholarship players, 24 fewer than the limit, and played eight freshmen against a heavily favored team. And they won.

San Jose State had a 5-foot-8 true freshman play both offense and defense. And he helped beat the Illini. Trestin George, who played for St. Mary's High School in Berkeley last year, was the Spartans' starting tailback and finished the game as the team's leading rusher with 52 yards. He spent most of the second half at cornerback, forcing an Illinois fumble that led to a Spartans touchdown.

A lucky charm? Maybe it was the Frontier Airlines charter plane that carried the Air Force team to the Bay Area on Friday, then turned around and flew the San Jose State team to Illinois that same day. Air Force and San Jose State both recorded road upsets.

1 RAGE

Outlined against a cold, gray September sky, Notre Dame lucked out again. Or so the skeptics claim. Even though the Irish are 4-0 for the first time since 1993, when Notre Dame finished No. 2, some say the Irish and coach Tyrone Willingham are benefiting from that Notre Dame good fortune. When a backup quarterback named Pat Dilling- ham, a redshirt freshman from Portola Valley who is called an "unknown" in the Notre Dame media guide and had not attempted a collegiate pass before Saturday, saves the day, creating the savior duo of Willingham and Dillingham, it seems higher powers are at work. On the reality side, it's instructive to note that Willingham started 4-0-1 in his first season at Stanford. And nobody could explain how Stanford was winning, either.

1 RAGS

Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer has the best winning percentage of any active Division I-A head coach (minimum five years), but the Vols did not look well-coached against Florida. That inexplicable series of fumbles, the 16 missed tackles, a penalty for 12 men on the field and confusion about what play to run immediately after a kickoff -- all in the first half -- came after Tennessee had an extra week to prepare. Gators quarterback Rex Grossman told reporters, "Against a team of that caliber, it's shocking."

1 RICHES

C.W. Post has started a Heisman campaign for its running back, Ian Smart, who rushed for 335 yards and six touchdowns Saturday. C.W. Post, a nonscholarship Division II school on Long Island, is hoping to duplicate what was done for Joe Dudek of Plymouth State, who finished ninth in the 1985 Heisman voting, and Gordie Lockbaum, third in 1987. Smart led all divisions in rushing last season with 2,536 rushing yards and 33 touchdowns. Smart has rushed for 689 yards and averaged 12.8 yards per carry this season and needs 2, 041 more yards and 18 TDs to set all-division records in both.

1 RANDOM RANT

Paul Willis, owner of the Shrimp Dock in Knoxville, usually sells about 1, 900 pounds of alligator meat on a weekend. This past weekend, with the Gators and their fans in town, he sold about 3,000 pounds.

1 RANKINGS

Top five behemoth quarterbacks (guys who could play tackle in a pinch):